Everybody knows that you need to increase traffic to your blog if you’re going to make any money out of it. But it’s not just about the number of hits you get, if you really want to be successful, you need regular readers that keep coming back time and time again. That’s a lot harder to achieve than people realize because there is a lot of competition out there. You need to make sure that you’re creating engaging content for your readers but that’s just the start. There are a lot of other things that readers want out of a blog. If you’re going to get people to become long-term readers, you need to get these things right.
Dialogue
If people like your posts then they might comment on them. This is great news for you because engaging your readers is a good way of getting them to come back. But your readers want to open a dialogue with you and if you don’t respond to that, they’re probably not going to visit your blog again. That’s why it’s important that you’re answering any comments within a day or two at the most. You should always make sure that you’re friendly and polite with people and you offer them good advice. You can also use this as a good opportunity to direct them toward more posts that you’ve published on a similar topic. Opening a dialogue with your readers and building a connection is one of the best ways to keep people coming back time and time again.
Personality
This is a big one. It’s important that you create informative posts but if that’s all you offer, people are going to get a bit bored of your blog. It also doesn’t separate you from all of the other blogs that are writing about similar topics. The thing that really creates loyalty amongst your readership is your personality. That’s why it’s important that you let your personality shine through in your posts and don’t hold back. As well as writing posts about your chosen topic, write about your life in general as well. Even if you don’t think it’s that exciting, people will like to hear about it.
Good Quality Pictures
The content of the posts themselves is important but people respond to visual stimulus a lot more than they do written content. That’s why it’s so important that you use good quality photos on all of your posts. When people are scrolling through your site or looking at your social media feed, it’s the photos that will catch their eye first. Always make sure you’re using photos on all of your posts and ensure the quality is good. It’s worth investing a bit of money in a decent camera so you’re not just taking pictures on your phone for the blog.
Security
Security is something that bloggers often forget about but it’s important because you hold a lot of information about your readers. You might have their names and emails on an email list and if you’re selling products through the blog, you might even have their credit card details. That’s why it’s so important that you protect yourself online and you give readers a safe way to log in to your site. Jumio provides a safe customer experience by using a facial recognition service. It’s far safer than using a standard password and makes them feel safer about using your blog. You also need to get a good firewall and keep it updated to protect yourself from any hacking attacks. If readers don’t feel like their information is being protected properly, they’re not going to keep visiting your site.
Usability
How many times have you been on a website that takes ages to load? How many times did you stick around and wait for it to work? Probably never, and most people would do the same. If your blog is frustrating to use then people aren’t going to keep using it. Slow loading times are the biggest problem and there are a couple of different reasons for it. Often, it’s just because you’ve got too much going on. If you’ve got a page packed full of pictures and videos with loads of stuff down the sidebar, it’ll take ages to load. Less is more here, just stick to the essentials and make sure that the page loads quickly. Sometimes, the template that you pick for your blog can load slowly so if you’re having problems, that’s the first thing to change. Always make sure that you’ve got a clear menu bar as well so people can easily find what they need.
Great content is at the heart of a successful blog but it’s not the only thing you need. You’ve got to get all of these other elements right as well.
